


In the Shadows of the Black Forest

by Ratsister



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M, fairytale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-28
Updated: 2012-12-28
Packaged: 2017-11-22 18:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/612864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ratsister/pseuds/Ratsister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of Ger/Ita fairytales. Each chapter another tale, adapted from the original German tales for Ludwig and his Feliciano. Magic, Tragedy, Danger, Elves, Dwarves, Witches and True Love. Human names. Clearly AU. Ger/Ita.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Shadows of the Black Forest

_This is the first in a series of my adaptations of German fairytales for a Ger/Ita loving audience! :) I'm on the look out for a good book of Italian fairytales and if I find one, I'll be adding those here as well. This is from my 'Complete Fairytales of the Brothers Grimm." This one is just so...oh, just. sigh. So It had to be the first. Some will be darker (you know these old fairytales!), some will be lighter, and many as I can find will be as..romantic as this, because, well, it makes my heart happy!_

_This series will be on going until I run out of fairytales...which may well be never. However, Updating will be sporadic.  
_

_I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. I will update as I find perfect stories...and in between Its just business chapters. (I already have a nice little list of good ones!)_

_But I don't want to go on and on - This is adapted from the tale: The Nixie in the Pond._

_Nixie: a greedy sometimes cannibalistic water demon similar to the Kelpie of Scottish folklore, able to appear as beautiful women, men, or horses. They are your basic wicked drowning fairy. The kind of thing your mom might warn you of to keep you form the dangerous pond, river, or loch nearby._

_Schwarzwald: the Black Forest._

* * *

 

Once upon a time, long long ago there lived a young, impulsive knight. One day he was walking along the edge of a pond lamenting his ill fortune. He had once been powerful and wealthy, but had come on hard times and lost much of his former glory.

As he lamented and cursed his luck, the knight kicked a stone which fell into the pond with a sinking splash. From the ripples a beautiful maiden rose from the waters.

"White knight, why do you carry on so?" She asked him, her feet drifting in the waters as she floated on the air.

His red eyes wide, the knight was enraptured by her beauty and he told her of all his troubles, how he had lost much that he once had held, his fortunes dwindled and his enemies rejoiced.

When he had finished his tale, the maiden floated near and consoled him. "Worry not brave knight, you can have all that you wish restored to you and see your enemies wailing in grief at your gains." She continued, her breath so close to his ear that it ruffled the pale man's white hair. "All you must do is give me what is sleeping in your house at this moment."

The knight thought hard, but he couldn't imagine what could be sleeping in his home...the only family he had was out, and no friends lived nearby. Thinking the only thing sleeping in his house must surely be no more than a mouse or a cricket, the knight readily agreed.

The maiden sunk beneath the water once more, and the knight happily strode home, thinking of the riches and power he soon would regain.

Imagine his distress upon reaching home to see his door open wide. Cautiously the knight stepped inside and looked around. He heard the soft breaths of someone sleeping and beginning to panic, he moved through the house until, his heart pounding in his chest, the knight opened the last door.

His young brother had been out to get firewood and the knight had expected the task would take the younger boy much longer to complete!

The pale man's complexion faded even more as he dropped to his knees beside his little brother's bed and cursed the maiden in the pond who he now knew to be a dreadful nixie.

The boy woke and seeing his brother crying, he sat up and rubbing sleep from his sky blue eyes he asked, "Bruder, vhat happened , vhy are you crying?"

The knight stood and held his only brother close, and with tears falling into the young boy's blonde hair, he told him what he had promised the water nixie.

The boy was understandably upset as well, he didn't want to be dragged down below the waters to be kept by a terrible nixie, never to grow up and become a man. After much thought the two brothers came to a decision, the younger must never go near the pond. The nixie couldn't leave her waters and so as long as the boy did not go near enough for her to grab him, he would be safe.

This plan worked for many years, and indeed neither brother ventured near the pond's edge at all. The boy grew into a fine, strong man and went out to make his way in the world. This caused his older brother much happiness as he would now be far from the pond and the nixie who waited for him.

One day the young man came upon a master huntsman in a village in a kingdom to the south.

"Huntsman, let me be your apprentice and learn from you." He asked the man.

The hunter looked him over and decided the young man would make a good apprentice. "Before I take you as my apprentice, tell me, where have you come from, what is your name, and what is it you want from life?"

"My name is Ludwig; I come from a kingdom to the north vhere I lived vith my bruder beside the Schwarzwald." He thought for a time before answering the next question. "As for vhat I vant from life, I vant only the same as everyone else; to live a good life, be useful, and find love."

His answer pleased the master huntsman who took him under his tutelage. For a year and a day the young man learned from the hunter until he could learn no more and indeed had even surpassed his master in skill.

After leaving as a skillful hunter in his own right, Ludwig traveled on to seek employment at a nearby lord's castle. He easily proved his skill and became the lord's chief huntsman.

Now it came to pass that the lord had a grandson, Feliciano, who was well known across the land for his beauty and kindness. At only a few years younger than Ludwig, the two became fast friends, and after a time, fell in love.

As Feliciano was the younger brother and would not inherit his grandfather's title, the lord gave his permission for the two to marry. Ludwig took his love back to his home, happy to show his brother that he had grown, found a vocation to make his living, and found love as well.

The knight was happy to meet his new brother in law, but worried about Ludwig's return, as he had hoped his younger brother would stay far away from the dangerous pond. The younger brother held his new love close and told his older brother that he wouldn't live in fear and had wanted to move back to show Feliciano his homeland.

The older nodded in understanding and helped his brother decide on a place to build his new home. A place was chosen far from the dreaded pond.

As time passed Feliciano and Ludwig only grew closer and more in love, both spent much of their time together in the home Ludwig had built, but also with his older brother Gilbert as he and Feliciano got along well.

One day as Ludwig was out hunting, he came upon a large buck, the biggest he had ever seen. If he caught this animal, he and Felicano would have plenty to eat for a long time indeed! He ran after the beast, and chased it deep into the Schwarzwald. Night fell and he was still pursuing it. Finally, he had gone in circles and was leaving the edge of the forest when he at last caught up to it.

Though the night was late and he had run a distance from home, Ludwig skinned and cleaned the animal there beside the forest's edge. He was tired as the light of dawn began to peak over the horizon and had forgotten his bearings in the chase. Not wanting to return home bloodied and dirty from the hunt, he strode toward the sparkling waters of a nearby pond.

No sooner had he sunk his hands below the water to wash, than they were seized by the pale fingers of the nixie. Before he could utter a single cry, she had pulled him below.

When Feliciano woke to realize his husband had never come home from the hunt, he began to worry. After the sun rose and moved across the sky and still he did not return, Feliciano's eyes filled with tears and he ran to his brother in law's house.

The knight instantly suspected the nixie and he and Feliciano made haste to the pond's edge where they found the deer meat cleaned and ready looking as though it had been out all night, and there was Ludwig's knife and bow beside the water's edge.

Instantly Feliciano dropped to his knees in despair. He was inconsolable, nothing Gilbert said or did could stem the tide of his tears. The knight himself was heavily saddened, his heart aching for the loss of his brother.

Though Gilbert mourned for the brother he had so loved, he none the less went on with his life after a time. Feliciano however, did not. Each day he would cry at the pond, cursing it and the hated nixie. Often he cried himself to sleep on the water's edge.

One such day as he slept from the exhaustion of crying beside the pond, a dream came to him and its vision was so clear it felt as though it were real. In the dream he traveled up a steep mountain through driving rain. When he reached the top he saw a small hut, the skies cleared and the air became warm. When he went inside the hut, he met a dark haired man, short of stature like himself, but wise beyond his apparent years. The dark haired man introduced himself politely as Kiku. His name was foreign and strange to Feliciano's ears and he knew he must have traveled far. Kiku gave to him a golden comb and told him to comb his hair beside the pond on the next full moon and to wait. He would see his love again.

Upon waking, Feliciano was shocked to see that he had the golden comb in his pocket. Alas! The full moon was still days away. He waited, barely returning home as the place felt so empty with only himself inside.

Finally the date of the full moon arrived and Feliciano was ready beside the pond. He brushed his mahogany hair with the golden comb and sat it beside the water's edge when he had finished. The young heartbroken man waited hopefully.

The water surged forward and took the golden comb to the depths of the pond.

No sooner had the waters calmed again than Feliciano saw his husband's head break the water's surface. Upon seeing him, Ludwig's blue eyes widened as he looked upon his love at the pond's edge tragically, knowing he was unable to reach toward him. As soon as the blonde opened his mouth to speak, the waters swallowed him up again.

Feliciano lay down on the ground at the pond and cried even harder at seeing his love again only to lose him once more. Again, he cried until he had no more tears and his throat was sore. Exhausted, he fell asleep at the water's edge.

Again, he dreamed of traveling up the mountain. Again, he met with the dark haired man. He cried and lamented to Kiku that the comb had not worked at all, his beloved was still trapped beneath the water!

The wise man only smiled and consoled the heartbroken Feliciano. "It has worked. Did I not tell you you would see him again?"

Feliciano nodded as Kiku continued, "And have you seen him?"

"Si." The tears threatened to fall from his caramel eyes again as Feliciano looked back up at the dark haired man. "Veh~ will he never be free from the pond? Are we to be apart forever?"

Again, the man wise beyond his youthful appearance, gave to Feliciano a golden flute. "Play this flute as though it were your heart. Play it by the water by the light of the full moon. This time you will be able to both see and hear your love again." The dark haired man smiled at him. "Do not be so forlorn, your heart is true."

With those words, Feliciano woke beside the pond. Night had changed to midday as he slept. Hopefully, he reached into his pocket and as sure as the comb had been, there the flute was. He longed to play it right away, but when he put it to his lips no sound came out. Feliciano sighed and knew he would have to wait a month for the moon to become full once more.

The month passed much too slowly for the heartbroken Feliciano. At last when it did arrive, he was ready once more beside the pond. Grateful that his grandfather had provided a childhood rich in artistic tradition, he was able to play the flute as if it were his heart.

A sorrowful and lingering tune flowed from the instrument as Feliciano played. When he felt he could play no more and the song had come to a natural end, he lay the flute down at the pond's edge.

Once more, the water bubbled and surged forth to claim the flute and carry it to the depths.

Just as with the comb before it, as soon as the surface had calmed once more, Ludwig's head appeared above the water, this time followed by his torso. It was as if he were simply wading in the pond, and as Feliciano stood, his heart leaping in his chest, Ludwig made to move forward.

Alas, the power of the nixie was still too powerful, and he could not move his legs beneath the water. The strong man was rendered immobile from the waist down and as he called out his beloved's name and reached toward Feliciano at the edge, once again, the waters surged and the nixie pulled him below.

Feliciano ran crying around the edge of the pond, hot tears falling down his face as he cursed the nixie with all his heart. He screamed to her beneath the water's glassy surface until his lungs and throat were exhausted. Once more he could not bring himself to make the walk home and collapsed beside the pond, sobbing quietly until he fell asleep.

A third time the dream came to him, and he raced up the mountainside to run through the doors to face the dark haired man. "Veh~ What cruelty is this?" Feliciano lamented, "He was nearly able to move out of the water, but the nixie pulled him under again! I can take this no more; can nothing free him from her hold?" His caramel eyes downcast, Feliciano hung his head in defeat, his heart heavy and body tired from crying.

The wise man spoke up, "Do not cry, for you have nearly freed your love. All magical things must come and be done thricefold." Kiku walked to a door and pulled from the room, a large golden spinning wheel.

Feliciano began to despair as the dark haired man told him what to do.

"You must spin this golden wool on the spinning wheel until it is all spun as fine as can be, then as before, leave the wheel and the spun wool beside the water as the full moon is still overhead." Kiku went on, not noticing the look on Feliciano's face. "Only once you have completed this task will your husband be freed from the nixie."

His heart fell but he thanked the wise man. Feliciano touched the golden spinning wheel; it was the first time he had ever touched one, never having needed to spin before. As soon as he touched one finger to the wheel he awoke where he lay beside the pond, the remnants of his tear tracks still wet on his cheeks. Sitting up, he noticed the spinning wheel gleaming in the light of the sun. He had slept to midday again.

Sighing miserably, Feliciano dragged the heavy gold spinning wheel into a nearby cavern. He could never have pulled it all the way home, and, if he had he would have been sure to attract unwanted attention with a solid gold spinning wheel.

Breathlessly, he stood beside the contraption. "Veh~" he sighed, "What will I do? I have never used a spinning wheel before!" The young man felt so alone in the cavern, whose walls echoed his words back to him, but he stayed and looked over the spinning wheel.

As the month progressed, Feliciano spent more time in the cavern than at home. A few times he visited his brother in law but did not tell him of the dreams, or the spinning wheel for fear that he would give Gilbert false hope, and that he would fail at this last task only to lose his love forever.

When at last the night of the full moon came, he pulled the spinning wheel from the cavern with all his strength and sat it beside the water. With trepidation, he sat at the wheel and began slowly to spin.

Feliciano's fingers fumbled with the wool. It seemed he would never get it on the spindle correctly. When at last he had accomplished this step, he began the work at spinning it into a fine strand of gold. However, no matter how hard he tried, he was simply unused to the job. His strands would be lumpy or fall apart as soon as he thought he had done it.

"Veh!" He sighed, feeling at a loss, "This is so much harder than making pasta!" He could roll the thinnest strands of angel hair, but this golden wool continued to thwart his every attempt.

Each time he nearly gave up, giving in to his frustrated tears, his eyes would rest on the calm surface of the pond and his heart clenched in sorrowful pain while his blood heated in anger.

Fueled on to continue to try, Feliciano picked up the wasted wool to spin again. He spun, he spun, he spun again and again. He spun the gleaming wool until he felt his fingers stiffen and though he wanted to cry and give up at the pain, he looked to the pond and thinking of his love trapped beneath the waters, he found the strength to continue.

Feliciano knew if it had been he trapped and held beneath the waves, there was nothing his Ludwig wouldn't do to save him. A small smile played about his lips as Feliciano thought. If it had been he held by the nixie, Ludwig would surely have dived beneath the water to rescue him by force.

While Feliciano's mind drifted in the daydream where the two had been parted for no more than a day, he had spun the golden wool till his fingers began to bleed. He had spun the golden wool until it was fine, fine as a spider's web.

Amazed that he had done it, Feliciano paid no heed to his sore and wounded finger tips, but wrapped the shimmering filaments carefully. Sparing a glance upward to the full moon, he gasped. The night was nearly past!

Hastily, Feliciano laid the spun golden wool beside the wheel and stepped back as the waters bubbled and surged forward. As with the flute and the comb before it, the waters surged up around the spinning wheel and carried it down to the bottom of the pond.

As before, once the waters calmed Feliciano saw his love rise up from the water. First, his head, then chest, and finally, Ludwig was running through the water toward his love.

"Feliciano! Mein Liebe!" Now standing on dry land, the tall blonde lifted his love in a tight embrace and kissed him deeply. "I vatched you each night from below, but vas unable to break through the surface."

All was right with the world again, the two lovers reunited, their hearts light as Ludwig held Feliciano close.

The nixie however, had not intended a trade and angered at the trick, as Feliciano's golden trinkets had distracted her from her captive, she rose from the water, not as the beautiful maiden who had appeared to Ludwig's brother so many years ago, but as a terrible spectre; her beauty was not the soft grace of her illusion, but as sharp and deadly as the silver sheen upon a sword's point.

She raised her arms above her head and as she did so, the waters of the pond rose at her command. If she could not have her prize, then no one would.

As Feliciano gasped and held onto his beloved, Ludwig turned to see the wall of water behind them. The larger man ran, holding his petite brunette against his chest as the nixie dropped her arms to her side causing the wall of water to rush forward engulfing the couple.

fighting to stay afloat and not let go of his Feliciano, Ludwig swam with one arm, and tread water with both legs furiously. However, the tide was no ordinary tide, the current was fueled by the nixie's hatred and jealousy and it soon became too much.

Ludwig lifted Feliciano over head even as the waters rushed over him, leaving him gasping for air at each opportunity. Fearing this would be the end, Ludwig called for help with each breathe he stole as they were swept along in the current. Surely his brother might hear them and come to their aid with a rope?

Though Gilbert was far outside of earshot, their cries were heard by a passing sorcerer from a far away land, he had traveled far from his Island home in search of new spells from the dark schwarzwald region.

Considering himself a good and helpful sorcerer, the man ran toward the sound and seeing the two men fighting against the current, the terrified brunette, now in the water along side the blonde who looked near to drowning, the wizard Kirkland called out to them.

"Oi! You chaps need a hand? Alright!" He rubbed his palms together, the electric spark igniting between them he turned both palms toward the two men struggling to remain afloat. "Abrakazam and Allakazoter - something that can handle the water!"

There was a light that suddenly surrounded them. Feliciano grabbed hold of his love's sleeve, but too soon he felt his grip loosening, shrinking, changing.

As Feliciano and Ludwig disappeared, they were replaced by two small green amphibians. The smaller Feliciano, now a frog, Ludwig now a toad.

Surely the sorcerer had meant well, as he called out sounding surprised at the outcome of his own magic, "I say! frogs, well there you go, no need to thank me boys!"

The newly reunited lovers were swept along with the tide, but webbed feet did not work as hands with fingers had. In shock as to their new forms, but now able to ride out the waves both safe from the water and disguised from the nixie, Ludwig and Feliciano found that soon they were seperated and unable to see the other.

The nixie's wrath at losing what had been promised her knew no limit. Her tide rolled along with her anger and Feliciano was washed along with the waves far to the east while Ludwig found himself being taken west.

After some time, the waves slowly slackened and receded back to the nixie's pond, but the damage had already been done.

Feliciano stood, finding himself human again. His elation at being back in the body he knew faded fast as he looked around him. The weather was cold and nothing was familiar. He was alone in a strange land. No matter how he looked, no matter how he called out, he neither saw nor heard his husband.

As Feliciano was looking for him far to the east, Ludwig was lying unconscious in the land far to the west. Slowly opening cloudy blue eyes, the blonde man stood and raised a hand to his aching head as he swayed, dizzy for a moment. Looking down at where he had been laying, he recognized what must have caused the pain. A large boulder protruded from where he had been laying his head.

Suddenly a thought came to the tall blonde. What was he doing there? Why was he wet? and, most chilling to him, he realized he did not know his own name, nor where he had come from.

He looked about and then down at himself. He looked through his clothes, finding nothing. It was not until he raked a hand through his soaking blonde hair, clearing it from his face that he felt the ring on his finger.

All at once memories came flooding his mind. He was married. The vision of a beautiful slender brunette moved in ripples as though from beneath water. He couldn't clear the images enough to recognize the face he so longed to see or to bring forth the name that hovered just on the tip of his memory.

As Ludwig, though he did not know that was his name, made his way toward civilization in the hopes that he might find the brunette in his mind's eye, or at least someone who might know him and point him in the direction of his petite love, one heavy booted foot landed on something hard and shiny.

It was the gold flute, which had drifted along in the wake of the nixie's wrath.

In a flash, Ludwig recalled the sound of a sorrowful and desperate song and it pierced his heart so that he sat down right there and cried though he did not know why.

Many months passed and the blonde to the west took a job as a shepherd. He was employed to take a flock of sheep to a market in the kingdom to the east, his homeland, though he did not know it. He took the job, feeling that it was the right thing to do.

At the same time in the kingdom far to the east, Feliciano knew he needed to make his way west in the hopes that seeing that he was missing, Ludwig might have returned home looking for him.

However, without any money and few skills to speak of, it took him many months to find a way west. At long last he was able to join a group of men leading livestock west to market. He joined the team as a chef and kept his spirits up with the hope that he would be reunited with his love soon. Feliciano focused on the meals he prepared for his companions and learned not to cry as often. Only when the night was long and dark and he could not sleep did he give in to the sorrow and the worry for his missing Ludwig.

One day the traveler coming from the east saw a herd of sheep and other livestock grazing on a hill nearby. He was near to the market now, but as it was late, he thought he might seek out the company of others, for his nights had been long and lonely, filled with half remembered words and images and his heart ached for something to distract him from the nagging pain of uncertainty.

Ludwig drove his sheep toward the camp and was welcomed in by the other men who were sitting around a fire. The blonde only just realized he was hungry when the men began to brag about their chef. Just wait until he tried his food, they told their new friend.

When Feliciano stepped from out of the wood, the apron he wore filled with berries from the forest, he dropped his grip and let the fabric go slack, the berries spilling to the ground.

"Ludwig!" He gasped, but his words were lost amidst the sounds of his travelling companions' concerns as each raced to see what troubled their chef.

When the blonde newcomer joined them, he did not recognize his beloved, instead he simply picked the berries from where they had fallen and though he felt something was different, Ludwig did not know what it could be and so stayed silent.

Feliciano's heart broke anew knowing that his husband did not recognize him. silently he made the meal and then walked away along the edge of the herd.

Coming to a stop, Feliciano looked up into the full moon above and the sight brought back memories of the months so long ago now, that he had fought so hard to free his love from the nixie's grasp. What spell was this, he wondered, that had stolen his beloved man's memories?

Feliciano sat and brought his knees to his face fighting to hold back the tears that were always so near to spilling. He had found Ludwig only to lose him all over again, and this time, he did not know how he could bring him back.

While his love sat in the moonlight, choking back on tears he tried to keep inside, Ludwig rose from the camp fire. The meal had been delicious and somehow familiar. He had the sudden compulsion to seek out the cook and speak with him, though he could not put his finger on it, there had been something about the other man.

He walked for a time along the edge of the grazing herd until he saw the smaller figure, knees drawn up alone in the light of the full moon.

Ludwig's heart pained sharply to see the young man so miserable and alone. Never questioning himself, he instinctively moved towards Feliciano to set beside him on the grassy earth of the hillside.

The brunette turned his watery caramel eyes to him and said nothing. Feliciano's words stuck in his throat, he didn't know what to say.

Neither did Ludwig, instead of speaking, he brought the flute from his pocket. Finally finding words, as Feliciano's eyes opened fully at the sight of the golden flute.

"My journey has been, strange. At times vhen I find myself in despair for a life I do not remember, I think of this tune...I do not know from vhere it comes, but...I think meine liebe played for me." Ludwig shrugged then, feeling himself blush at how much he had said.

Without another moment's hesitation, Ludwig brought the flute to his lips. He had been trying to recreate the sound in his mind along his travels east. He played the flute, but was unable to recreate the sorrowful and lingering sound.

The broad shouldered blonde sighed and began to apologize, but before the words could leave him, the smaller man beside him had reached for the flute and brought it to his own lips.

As Feliciano played the flute as if it were his heart, the notes fell into place in perfect time in Ludwig's mind. With each note, the man, lost for so long, began to remember.

He watched the petite brunette's nimble fingers on the keys; moonlight gleamed off the ring on his left hand, one identical to his own. Blue eyes moved from those of caramel turned to the moon above to warm mahogany hair, and the little curl to the side that as he recognized he could not believe he had ever forgotten.

It was as though the watery ripples that had obscured his memory calmed to clear glass and as he saw Feliciano here, now, playing the sorrowful tune, he was also seeing him months ago, playing beside the pond and Ludwig knew why his vision had been so blurred. He remembered his name, his life, and most importantly his love.

Feliciano played the tune to its end and lowered the flute to the ground between them. He was afraid to meet beloved sky blue eyes, afraid he would still see no spark of recognition within their depths.

He needn't have feared so, for as soon as the flute had left his lips, the brunette felt a touch he had missed mightily for so long. He leaned into the hand that now cupped his face, Ludwig had moved in front of his beloved now and brought Feliciano in close in a passionate embrace, lips longing for contact so long met again and the lovers rejoiced at their reunion.

This time there was no wrathful nixie, no well meaning, but troublesome sorcerer, nothing to keep them apart.

Blue eyes glistened with tears, as they gazed into beloved caramel. Feliciano had never seen his strong man cry and tightened his hold around Ludwig's neck, kissing him as much as he could, making up for all the lost time apart.

The couple stayed on the edge of the herd in the light of the moon all night long in eachother's arms until the pink light of dawn broke over the hill. Even then they never left eachother's sight, always within reach of one another.

Ludwig gave his payment for driving the sheep to market to the other team and though they were sorry to lose their talented chef, Feliciano's traveling companions saw that he was happier now than he had been along their journey.

Now knowing where he was and who he was, Ludwig guided them home. His brother rejoiced to see him alive and with Feliciano too, who all in the village had worried over, no one knowing what had happened to the young man.

The party lasted many days; the pond was filled in with stones from a nearby quarry one moonless night, and Feliciano and Ludwig returned to their life happily.

It goes without saying that the two lived happily ever after; Feliciano never shed another tear that wasn't one of joy, and Ludwig always returned home each night, never having to fear the nixie again.

* * *

 

_End of the first fairytale in the series. Many, many more to follow! Please, please review, dear sweet readers! Bitte? Per favore? I do so hunger for your thoughts!_


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